Page 499 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 June 1989
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services provided to young people should be accessible, relevant and appropriate to their needs, with particular reference to gender, disability and culture.
Ministers agreed there were seven areas that needed attention in the short to medium term: accommodation, income support, education and training and employment, children under statutory orders, better coordination and data collection for existing programs, and prevention of family breakdown.
There are of course many other areas to be addressed in the future. The Council of Social Welfare Ministers recognised there will be a wide range of portfolios involved if we are to address all the problems that lead to homelessness, and accordingly has referred, through the council secretariat, various matters to our ministerial colleagues.
The Australian Education Council has been asked to take account of the needs of homeless young people when developing strategies to support the continued involvement of young people in mainstream education. It has also been asked to consider how the education system can best identify and respond to children at risk of homelessness.
Ministers for labour and employment and Ministers with responsibility for youth affairs have been asked to look at more employment related services for early school leavers - those who tend to feel most isolated from the system.
Ministers for housing have been asked to advise how young people can have more accommodation options. They have also been asked to see what can be done to make it easier for young people to move into public housing. This is a particularly important area, as we have to help young people into permanent accommodation if we are to break the cycle of refuge hopping.
Health Ministers have been advised of the needs of homeless young people - for example, for basic health care in sympathetic and non-threatening settings. They will also consider specialist help for problems such as drug and alcohol abuse and psychiatric illness.
The Attorneys-General will advise us on the obligations we have if the draft United Nations convention on the rights of the child is ratified and the approach that would be taken to compliance.
I wish to turn now to the particular topics considered by social welfare Ministers. In the area of accommodation, Ministers agreed that new crisis accommodation services would be provided only if there were gaps in service provision. Existing crisis services will be upgraded to make them more responsive to needs - for example, through more staff training, better counselling, support and
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